Bai Hao Yin Zhen (白毫银针) — White Hair Silver Needle — is Fuding’s classic white tea, picked as single buds in early spring. This 2021 picking comes from Panxi, one of the core tea regions of Fuding, Fujian, at the A+++++ exhibition grade. The buds were sun-dried, and the years since have taken the tea halfway between fresh and aged.
Tea Profile
At a glance: 2021 · White tea · Silver needle buds · Panxi core region, Fuding · A+++++ exhibition grade · sun-dried
- Dry leaf: Semi-aged buds thick with fine white hairs.
- Aroma: The distinctive fragrance of a high-quality silver needle.
- Taste: Where a new tea is all refreshing fragrance and flavor, this one has turned semi-aged — a herbal depth over a sweetness like mountain spring water.
- Mouthfeel & body: Natural, soothing and pleasing.
- Aftertaste: Lingering.
- Best for: Drinkers who enjoy silver needle between fresh and aged — the herbal sweetness of semi-aging, with the needle’s delicacy intact.
Brewing Guide
- Water: 85°C–90°C (185°F–194°F) — below boiling, to preserve the delicate buds.
- Vessel: a glass pitcher or a porcelain gaiwan, so you can watch the needles dance in the water.
- Steps:
- Warm the vessel; add about 5g per 100ml.
- Steep 20–30 seconds for the first three infusions.
- Lengthen the steep gradually with each round after that.
- Pour every steep fully into a fairness cup before serving.
- Treat these as starting points rather than fixed rules. Try high or low pours, fast or slow, and brew in different seasons to find the method that suits you. Brewing the same tea well in any year, season, weather or place takes practice, and that skill is the real goal.
Storage
Store in a cool, dry, odorless place, in an airtight container away from direct sunlight. A high-quality white tea like this can be enjoyed as it is, or kept longer to develop deeper, medicinal “date” notes over time.
